Tale of Two Wolves
by Lupin-twin
Summary: It is two years after the fall of Voldermort. There has been a spate of killings by a werewolf in Wales. The Welsh ministry of Magic finally asks for help and Tonks is sent along with Lupin to investigate. Shacklebolt who is now the head Auror has enliste
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The young Witch sat shaking uncontrollably. She tried to keep her eyes closed. Maybe if she could keep them closed long enough, when she opened them again she would be somewhere else.  
  
Her eyes were still closed but she knew that nothing had changed. She could still smell the stench of death and decay, and no amount of imagining, wishing, hoping, or praying would help her now. She knew that she was trapped in the cellar. The room was divided into two cells. The young witch had been thrown into this one, separated only by the bars to the other.  
  
There was one small, barred window high up in each cell. The sun was almost gone; even through her tightly closed eyes she could tell and she knew what would happen next. She had seen what the monster had done. She had seen the dead staring eyes of its last victim. It had been hours before they had taken the dead woman's torn body away.  
  
"Please don't cry, it will be over soon," a man's soothing voice said, but she still wouldn't open her eyes. "It will be ok. Please tell me your name?" His voice seemed so gentle and kind. The werewolf was a curse, what had this kind man done to be so cursed? Did he even know?  
  
She heard the key in the door to the cold cellar. Finally the witch opened her eyes. If only she'd fought harder, if only she hadn't allowed her self to be disarmed. She would be safe and warm at home. If only she hadn't let them get her wand. But she was trapped and helpless.  
  
She saw the hem of the woman's robes first as she descended the stairs. More and more revealed as she walked carefully down the stairs. If only she would fall and break her neck, better to starve than to face what was to come.  
  
Her jailor approached; her once attractive face, cruel and inhuman. This was the true monster!  
  
"No please-have pity, please...please," the young woman begged.  
  
Her jailor said nothing, just cranked a leaver that released the door between the two cells.  
  
The young Witch saw the kindly man's face change as the moon rose in the barred window behind him.  
  
_Authors Note: If you've read this far please take a moment to leave a review to tell me what you think – it really makes my day, constructive criticism is always welcome, you don't even have to be registered – just click on the link below._


	2. A Portrait of a Witch

**A/N: Hey every one I hope you like my story Its all finished so if you like it I'll keep updating.**

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! unfortunately lol**

**A Portrait of a Witch**

Harry, Ginny and Ron sat in the garden of the Burrow; it was a warm summer's day in early June. Two years had passed since the end of the war that defeated Voldemort. Harry and Ron were both now Junior Aurors for the Ministry. In those first couple of years there had been so much work even after Voldemort had been killed.  
  
Harry idly rubbed his calf; it was ironic that the lightening bolt scar was the only physical mark that Voldemort had managed to leave on him. It had been his followers that had provided the other six scars, including the one on his leg that troubled him now. The emotional scars ran much deeper, not just for him but for all his friends, both from his time at Hogwarts and those that were in the Order of the Phoenix.  
  
Now, with the exception of an occasional nutter who wished to resurrect Voldemort or who saw himself as his natural successor, there was little work to do, save the criminals that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement felt they couldn't handle and the odd lead on a Death Eater that had escaped those early round ups.  
  
Harry and Ron's main concern work wise, was whether the ministry would be announcing any cuts, and if those cuts would include redundancies in the Auror Department. Outside of work, life was more complicated.  
  
Ginny and he were a couple but they seemed to be drifting along without direction. Ron and Hermione saw each other socially and seem to circle each other. It was if they had gotten stuck in the 'sizing each other up' stage, unable to connect. Ginny called it the Curse of the Order. No one from either the order or the DA had settled down or married. Tonks and Lupin were two such examples.  
  
'They should be here soon,' Harry thought. Molly had invited them both for Dinner. Hermione couldn't make it, as she was guest speaker tonight at some dinner or other. Harry lost track, but she never missed the chance to 'raise awareness on the House Elf issue'.  
  
In the distance he saw a woman walking across the orchard where Harry and Ron used to take their brooms to practice Quidditch. At first Harry thought it was Tonks.  
  
"Oh Ginny, you didn't? Why did you have to invite her?" Ron groaned.  
  
"She is our friend Ron!" said Ginny. "Be nice!"  
  
Harry shaded his eyes and looked towards the woman, Luna Lovegood. Harry hadn't seen her in two years.  
  
"Hi Luna" Ginny called and got up to kiss her. "It's so good to see you; it's been such a long time!"  
  
"Has it? I suppose it has. Hallo Harry, Hallo Ron," Luna said in her dreamy voice. Harry was amazed at how little Luna had changed.  
  
There was a pop and Remus Lupin appeared with two cylindrical packages under his arm. He looked as pale and tired and as shabby as he had looked during 'the Dark Years', as the time of Voldemort's return was now called. Thanks in part to Hermione's reforms Remus Lupin was now guaranteed equal rights; but of course life was still difficult for werewolves. Most Wizards still held to their prejudices, but at least the law was now on Remus' side.  
  
"Remus, Hi!" Harry called and got up to shake his hand. Harry still had to fight to urge to call him Professor Lupin, despite the fact that Harry now considered him to be one his closest friends.  
  
"Good to see you all," Remus said shaking Harry and then Ron's hand. He went slightly pink when both Ginny and Luna kissed him.  
  
Mr Weasley came out levitating a table in front of him.  
  
"Remus, Luna, we didn't hear you arrive. Molly," Arthur called to his wife, "Remus and Luna are here!"  
  
Remus shook hands with Arthur; finally dropping his two packages for Ron to catch.  
  
"What have you got here Remus?" asked Ron.  
  
"Oh, just something I promised Tonks, is she still coming?" asked Remus.  
  
"Yes as far as I know, but you know Tonks, she could turn up an hour late or a week late!" said Molly finally emerging from the kitchen.  
  
Molly organised Harry, Ron and Ginny into sorting out the table, as dinner was almost ready. She made Remus and Luna sit down and got them drinks before bustling back into the kitchen. The food was already being served when there was a familiar popping sound from the vegetable patch. Tonks had just apparated to the Burrow.  
  
"Oh...er...Sugar!" said Tonks vehemently, in place of a swear word. She had managed to apparate on top of a large cabbage and the long suffering look on Molly's face made her decide that compounding this with swearing, on top of being well over an hour late, would not be the best way of impressing her hostess.  
  
"Sorry Molly! Hi all, sorry I'm late!" Tonks said as she tried to get the cabbage remnants off her shoes before taking her place at the table.

))**))0O0((** ((

Dinner was lovely. They were all happy and relaxed, talking about the good times they had shared. If they tried really hard they could almost forget the bad times...almost! Tonks looked at Remus. Sometimes she thought that he had had the saddest life of all of them. A gentle man but still a werewolf; feared and discriminated against all his life. He had only three close childhood friends; Harry's father, James, dead by Voldemort's hand. Sirius Black died by the hand of Voldemort's supporters. Then there was Peter Pettigrew who turned out to be a Death Eater and was eventually killed by Tonks. Remus was now so utterly alone in this world, unable or unwilling to really share his life with anyone.  
  
Tonks gave herself a little shake; she was being silly, Remus had as many friends as she did. It was she that wanted Remus to have more in his life. If she were honest, what she really wanted was for Remus to have _her_ in his life, as much more than the 'just the good friend' that he had become. They had lunch together at least once a fortnight; but it was only ever lunch - never dinner, let alone a romantic candle lit diner. Tonks sighed.  
  
"Tonks," Ron said getting her attention, "Remus brought you a couple of packages. Don't forget to take them with you when you go!"  
  
Subtly was never Ron's strong point, he was clearly dying to know what was in them. Tonks chose to misinterpret Ron's comment.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry Ron, I hadn't meant to outstay my welcome!" she said knowing that no meal of Molly's had ever ended without some sort of delicious dessert and always it would come with copious amounts of cream, ice-cream or custard.  
  
"No, I didn't mean..." Ron went pink.  
  
Remus and Tonks exchanged looks and burst out laughing.  
  
"Oh, put him out of his misery, tell him!" said Remus.  
  
"Ok, just as long as I don't have to show him. Ron, that fool of a mother of mine decided that she wasn't happy with just photos of me, she insisted on having a portrait done as well. That is what is in the package," explained Tonks.  
  
"Can't I..." Ron started but was cut off.  
  
"No, you can't!" snapped Tonks.  
  
"Remus, I knew about the art therapy stuff you did at St. Mungo's," said Harry. "But I didn't know you did private work...portraits?"  
  
"I don't really, but after three artists had refused to work with Tonks...it wasn't just that she wouldn't keep still, she kept on changing her nose or hair as well, and they gave up in the end. So Andromeda asked me to do it instead, said that if I needed to, I could do a stunning spell on her to keep still!"  
  
"They were so boring, and I was good for you!" Tonks said defensively.  
  
"You didn't change your nose, but you didn't exactly keep still and as for the facial hair – sorry Tonks but your mother now owns a portrait of a bearded lady," Remus said with a straight face.  
  
"You didn't," gasped Tonks. Remus grinned.  
  
"Ouch!" Tonks tried to kick Remus under the table but hit the table leg instead.

))**))0O0((** ((

Harry, Ron, Arthur and Remus started to debate the political situation. By the time the coffee had arrived it was Quidditch and the woeful lack of a strong defensive shown by the English team, which was now managed by Oliver Wood.  
  
Ginny was fiercely debating Wood's every decision. Ginny had already taken Lupin's packages and placed them inside 'to stop them getting damaged;" and possibly to keep them from tempting Ron's curiosity. Molly was clearing the last of the plates and wandered back into the house.  
  
"Oh, let me help," said Tonks following Molly, "I am so grateful to have a home cooked meal. I can't cook to save my life!" Tonks laughed.   
  
"Molly can I do anything?" Luna said joining them. Molly turned around and looked with trepidation at Tonks. Molly knew that Tonks meant well, there was never any permanent damage, but well it was just so much quicker without Tonks breaking things.  
  
"Tonks, Luna, that is so kind but you are my guests, why don't you just sit down and keep me company...No, No, I insist," Molly said kindly.  
  
Tonks sat down, defeated, it wasn't that she hadn't realised she was clumsy, but it just seemed that the harder she tried the worse she got. Luna wandered over and sat down at the table with Tonks.  
  
"They may be some time, they're reliving every play that they've every seen the Chudley Cannons fly," Luna said in her dreamy voice, "Tonks, they really will be some time and I would love to see Remus' work. He did a couple of sketches for the Quibbler and they were remarkable."  
  
Molly looked over at Luna and Tonks. Now she didn't even have to ask Tonks herself. Molly had wanted to see them as well. Molly was almost willing her to say 'Yes'.  
  
"Oh, Ok then, I have been dying to see them as well. I just didn't want Ron laughing at me all night!" Tonks explained as she tore open the larger package, "I haven't seen them either Remus wouldn't even let me peek until they were finished."  
  
Molly winced as the brown paper ripped.  
  
"Careful dear, don't tear it!" Molly warned her.  
  
Miraculously it came out unscathed.  
  
"Here, let me," Luna said and charmed the portrait to unfurl, stay flat and float suspended vertically in mid air.  
  
"It is beautiful!" exclaimed Molly, looking at the sunlit scene.  
  
It was the bank of a slow running river, a small boat tied up to a spot on the bank overhung by a large tree. In the distance, the other side of the river was a tower on a hill.   
  
"Er...Tonks, there seems to be something missing," said Molly, Tonks looked at her blankly "Tonks you are supposed to be in it, it is supposed to be a portrait not a landscape!"  
  
"Oh...oh yes. Tonks get out here... now!" Tonks hissed.  
  
"No... it's better without me," said a quiet voice from inside the portrait.  
  
"Now dear, Remus put a lot of work in to this, don't let him down," Molly gently chided, her voice directed to the person that was out of sight in the portrait. The painted image of Tonks stomped in to view.  
  
"Happy now?" the portrait said petulantly.  
  
"That isn't how we posed," growled Tonks through gritted teeth, "Hair!"  
  
"Ok, don't nag! I'm doing it," said the portrait version of Tonks, as she sauntered over to the tree, as she walked her spiky short pink hair grew longer and changed to a glossy gold blonde in the sunshine. As the figure sat down beneath the tree to look across to the tower in the distance, there was a collective gasp.  
  
"I...I look beautiful!" said Tonks in wonder. The others nodded mutely.  
  
"Oh for the love of...this just isn't me!" said the portrait Tonks, standing up and shaking her head. Her hair turned electric blue.  
  
"Oh, but is you!" said Luna simply. "It is you as Remus sees you!"  
  
"Hmmph!" said the portrait. "Hey, he told me never to get in the boat" she said as she jumped into it.  
  
"No!" shrieked Molly and Luna.  
  
Tonks - the real Tonks - just sighed. The boat had tipped and the portrait Tonks had lost her balance and had fallen in. A moment later she re-emerged, looking like a drowned rat.  
  
"It's ok, I'm fine!" Portrait Tonks said with a grin.  
  
"Oh...Just roll her up!" said the real Tonks testily. Luna released the canvas from its charm and packed it away.  
  
"Could we see the other one?" asked Luna. Tonks nodded and Molly took the other picture out of its packaging charming it so it floated before them.  
  
This was just a sketch; the same scene done in charcoal, but instead of glorious sunshine the scene was lit by silvery moonlight.  
  
"It doesn't move," said Molly, "is there something wrong?"  
  
"No, it's a muggle version; I had such trouble sitting still that Remus sketched this so he could work on the other without me," Tonks explained.  
  
"It is so beautiful," said Luna looking at the pose that the oil painting had only managed to keep for seconds, "It is so tragic. Did you know he was in love with you?" asked Luna, quiet tears running down her face.  
  
Tonks looked at her in disbelief. Tonks had always had a crush on Remus, but it was so clear that he never had, nor ever would, look at her in that way.  
  
"Ha! You are cracked, Luna!" Tonks said dismissively.  
  
"Can you not see? It is so clear. He sees you as they Lady of Shalott!" explained Luna.  
  
"He sees me as dead?" Tonks gasped in disbelief.  
  
"Of course not, you are too literal!" Luna smiled at them through her tears, "You must look beyond and see yourself as Remus sees you; vibrant with life but also just a beautiful dream, the woman of his dreams but in this life you can never be together, the moonlight that shows her true being is the very thing that separates them in this world. It is just so sad, so romantic!" sighed Luna.  
  
"I don't understand. Who is this Lady of Shalott?" asked Molly.  
  
"She was a figure from a muggle poem," Tonks explained, "We studied the Arthurian legends in Muggle Studies at Hogwarts to demonstrate how the muggles viewed Merlin and Camelot. The Lady of Shalott lived in a tower on the road to Camelot. She was cursed, so she could never leave the tower or even look directly on the world outside. The only way she could see the outside world was though a mirror. One day Lancelot rides past. The Lady of Shalott sees him and cannot help herself; she looks out directly onto the world, Lancelot, and Camelot. Then she leaves the tower and dies"

**_The mirror cracked from side to side_ **

'**_The curse is come upon me' cried_ **

**_The Lady of Shalott_ **

"Exactly!" said Luna sadly tears still in her eyes.  
  
"No, I still don't get it...or you!" said Tonks in an exasperated voice.  
  
"Oh, can't you see...but it is so clear you can see his heart in this..." said Luna.  
  
"Luna dear, I can see it is a beautiful drawing," said Molly "I can even see that Remus puts his heart and soul into his work, that it is done with love...but that is not the same as..." Luna cut Molly off.  
  
"Just look at this," said Luna, "it _is_ the Lady of Shalott"  
  
"I'm sorry I just don't see it. There is no way that Tonks looks as if she is dying or fading away." Molly said.  
  
"It is the Lady of Shalott," Luna sighed, "You are still being too literal. Imagine that the roles are reversed: Lancelot is cursed to stay in the tower; divided from his Ladylove. Look at the moonlight; the light of the full moon is falling directly on the door of the tower trapping him inside. If he comes out, shows himself in moonlight, it will kill any chance of love," Luna wiped her eyes and sighed dramatically.  
  
Molly and Tonks stared at the drawing.  
  
"No," said Tonks uncertainly, "you're reading far too much into this...isn't she?"  
  
Molly shrugged and shook her head sadly.  
  
"It is truly sad, a love divided by just one night. If only Remus could get past that one brief moment per month. How often do you find a love like that?" Luna sighed again.  
  
Tonks wanted to question her further, but at that moment Arthur, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Remus walked in. Tonks felt herself turning red.  
  
"What's up with you lot?" asked Ron.  
  
"Ah, I see you have decided to join us now that all the work is done!" Molly snapped in an effort to cover for Tonks' now rather too obvious confusion and embarrassment.  
  
"Give it up, Mum. Tonks what gives?" said Ron.  
  
"Oh we've just been looking at Remus' Portrait of Tonks," explained Luna languorously. Tonks cringed and felt her face go an even deeper shade of red,  
"Beautiful as it is Remus; Tonks is just a little embarrassed that her image has just fallen in the river!" Luna explained.  
  
At that moment Tonks wasn't sure how she felt about Remus, but she truly loved Luna.  
  
"Oh, Tonks," said Remus, walking over to her with a slight smile on face and putting his arm around her, "It's not as if your Mum didn't know what would happen with any portrait of you. It's what makes you so special!" he said.  
  
Tonks broke down in tears.  
  
Ron and Harry stared open mouthed at Tonks as she clung to Remus sobbing on his shoulder. They had never seen her like this! At least not over something trivial; a funeral perhaps, there had been too many of those during Voldemort's hay day. But this was something they would never have expected.  
  
_Authors Note: If you've read this far please take a moment to leave a review to tell me what you think – it really makes my day, constructive criticism is always welcome, you don't even have to be registered – just click on the link below._


End file.
